“Galaxies: A Very Short Introduction” by John Gribbin

Galaxies: A Very Short Introduction
John Gribbin
Oxford University Press
978-0199234349

Galaxies was my second Very Short Introduction on astronomy, and I found it to be more of a challenge than the first. In fact I had to read it twice in order to get my head around some of the concepts. The book was rather inconsistent when it came to explaining astronomical terms and concepts—some are explained in the text, some are defined in the glossary, but others are not explained at all—and this made it hard to follow some of the discussion. I’ve filled some of the gaps serendipitously in the course of listening to the very entertaining 365 Days of Astronomy podcast daily, but it shouldn’t have to come to that with a book that purports to be an introduction for the average reader.

I did learn quite a lot from the book in spite of the occasional difficulties. The first section covers the history of the study of galaxies which is very recent, since it takes a powerful telescope to distinguish the individual stars in a galaxy. It was not until the 1920s that Edwin Hubble, working with the largest telescope yet built, established that previously observed nebulae are not clouds of gas but clouds of stars, and that our galaxy is not the only one in the Universe. Indeed astronomers now estimate that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the Universe, each of which can contain hundreds of billions of stars.

I’ll just let that sink in for a moment…

OK. Although the book does cover the development, structure, distribution, and dynamics of galaxies, most of it is really about what we have learned about the Universe from studying galaxies. I won’t go into detail here (and I’m not sure I could explain it anyway), but the study of galaxies has led to profound discoveries about the nature of the Universe. It’s a perfect example of how studying one thing in detail can contribute greatly to a better understanding of something much greater. However, I think the book dwelt on the subject too long, at the expense of describing galaxies themselves in more detail, and perhaps straying into the territory of Cosmology: A Very Short Introduction, my next astronomy book. I look forward to that book filling in more of the gaps in my understanding of what we know about this astounding Universe of ours.

Hubble Ultra Deep Field: This is what they saw when they pointed the Hubble Space Telescope at an “empty” patch of sky: over 10,000 galaxies never seen before.

“Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and
the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
Christopher McDougall
Knopf
978-0307266309

I can’t remember how I first heard about this book, but I’m glad I did because it has been a revelation. As the author has acknowledged in an interview, it is really three books in one. It is partly about the Rarámuri (“Tarahumara”) Indians of Mexico, a shy, peaceful tribe that has survived by running and hiding in the most rugged terrain on earth, the Copper Canyon. “Rarámuri” means “running people,” and indeed running is the foundation of their culture. It is not just a means of escape, it is something they find great joy in, and they have learned how to run great distances, for days on end, through impossible terrain. McDougall, a runner himself, became fascinated with them after struggling with running injuries that threatened to take away his favourite sport. He wanted to know how they ran so much without difficulty, and that is how the book started.

Born to Run is also about a group of crazy “ultrarunners,” long distance runners who regularly compete in 50 to 100 mile races up and down mountains, and who run even longer distances just for fun. This is not a sport with a lot of glory and sponsorships, they just love running, and so when they were brought to the Copper Canyon to race the Rarámuri, it was like the meeting of twins separated at birth.

However the part of the book that blew my mind was about running itself, and how we really are born to run, built to run, evolved to run. This may seem hard to believe for those of us who learned to run in great, galumphing, heel-first strides. The way we normally run is just about least efficient, most punishing way to do it. We’ve taken something completely natural and made it so difficult that only those with the highest pain thresholds can get much enjoyment out of it. The problem is the running shoe. The running shoe practically forces us run in the worst way possible, by slamming down on our heel with a straight leg. The shoe’s cushioning prevents us from feeling the pain of hitting the ground in this way, so we keep doing it despite the damage it does to our bodies. If that wasn’t enough, the much-lauded arch support in these shoes actually weakens our feet, making them even more vulnerable to injury and less able to carry us. Think of an architectural stone arch—put a heavy weight on it and the stones lock together more strongly; but push up from below and the arch falls apart easily. That’s what arch support does to our feet.

So what is the alternative? Run like the Rarámuri, and like every other barefoot or sandaled runner in the world, on the balls of our feet. It’s how children naturally run, before they are taught the wrong way, and it is how animals run, whose heels never even touch the ground. It’s the only possible way to run without shoes, because the other way just hurts too much. Pain is the best running coach—the bottoms of our feet are among the most sensitive parts of our bodies and when they aren’t cocooned by an inch of foam rubber they can tell us quite clearly when we’re running wrong.

The way the Rarámuri run is to land softly on the balls of their feet, making first contact with the outside of the foot, rolling in, and gently coming down on the whole foot while stroking the ground backwards. Steps are light and quick, and much shorter than we run in running shoes. It is more efficient to run with smaller strides, and landing on the ball of the foot takes advantage of the springy tendons and ligaments in our feet and legs. We have far more connective tissue in our legs than most animals, so running for us is a bit like riding a pogo stick—we only need to use enough muscle to keep the bounce going and our tendons and ligaments do the rest.

For me as a biologist the most fascinating part of Born to Run was about how running is the key to our evolution. Until recently, no one has been able to account for our bizarre morphology, the form of our bodies. Compared to other animals, we are slow, weak, and defenceless. We really have no business being on this planet. People sometimes say that making tools evened the odds, but we didn’t start making tools until long after we assumed our present shape. So why are we the way we are? The only theory that explains us is “persistence hunting.” Persistence hunting is tracking and running down a prey animal until it collapses. Animals are obviously faster on the sprint, but they cannot run long distances. Their fur traps heat so they can only run for so long before they must stop to cool down. Also the way their bodies scrunch up and extend with every galloping stride limits how much they can breathe. We, on the other hand, have no fur and can sweat, so we shed heat as we run, and being upright means we can breath as much as we need to while running. Add to that our efficient, springy legs and you have a long distance running machine.

Running may be the key to our evolution in another way. If we didn’t evolve by making tools, what caused us to develop our supersized brains? The answer may be tracking. Tracking is partly a matter of perception—being able to see the slightest signs left by an animal—but it is also a matter of thinking. To track an animal efficiently you have to be able to put together the story of what the tracks mean, what the animal was doing when it left a track, and where it might be going. This employs quite a number of different mental skills—learning, memory, extrapolation, inference, deduction, visualization. Throw in the need to teach these complex skills to the next generation and you may have the basis for speech as well.

This is the best, and frankly the only, theory I’ve ever heard that explains human evolution. It’s not just a theory either, because persistence hunting has been observed. It only takes a few hours to run down an animal like an antelope, which is well within our capability. Then there’s the fact that running, punishing as it is in running shoes, is the most popular sport on Earth, not to mention the preferred mode of locomotion among children. Kids know what we grownups have forgotten—running is easy and running is fun.

Chris McDougall has become a convert to barefoot running since writing this book. His injuries have cleared up, and he can run farther and faster than he ever did before. But it’s not about distance and time, it’s about joy. Over and over McDougall talks about the pure joy he saw on the faces of the Rarámuri and the crazy ultrarunners, even at the end of a long, gruelling race. Running simply feels good, when you do it right.

If you’re tempted to give it a try, check out RunningBarefoot.org. The site has an extensive section on getting started, as well as plenty of other advice and discussion on barefoot and minimalist running. I particularly love the site’s motto: “Shoes? We don’t need no stinkin’ shoes!” You might also enjoy the blog of Barefoot Ted, one of the racers in Born to Run, and the site of Caballo Blanco, who organized the Copper Canyon race featured in the book.

I’ll leave you with this video by Christopher McDougall. When I first saw this I was struck by how much his form looked like the pottery paintings of Olympic athletes from ancient Greece. This is how they ran. It’s how we’ve always run. Thanks to Chris McDougall for showing us how to get our birthright back.

Penguin Dresses Up the Classics

I haven’t been a big fan of Penguin classics, mainly because the books, unlike their contents, deteriorate so quickly. They are books to be read once and then left to yellow and dissolve on the shelf. But Penguin is making up for it with their new beautifully designed clothbound classics.

The covers are the work of Penguin’s senior cover designer, Coralie Bickford-Smith. In this interview at Design*Sponge, she talks about her influences, including the Arts and Crafts movement, and how she tailored each design to the book and to the equipment and materials used to produce them. I haven’t seen one myself but I would hope they paid equal attention to the quality of the interiors. Using Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature I see that they are printed on Forest Stewardship Council-approved paper, which is a good sign, but doesn’t go as far as the Modern Library hardcovers, which are printed on recycled and acid-free paper. Interestingly, they also come with all the usual editorial extras of Penguin Classics, such as introduction, chronology, and notes. I think this is unusual in hardcover classics, except for one-off translations.

I don’t know if I will get any myself. I already have copies of my favourites and don’t really have room for much else, but I love the cover of their Odyssey so much I might just get that one. I already have two editions of it, but it’s good to have multiple translations of ancient classics. Alas, that particular volume doesn’t seem to be available yet, and I can’t find out which translation it is, though I would guess Fagles, which I don’t have. I’ll just have to wait.

If you’d like to ogle more of these books, see this Flickr photo gallery.

UPDATE: After reading some of the reader comments about these books here and here, I am now doubtful about the quality of these books. One reader says that the foil decoration comes off quite easily when the book is transported in a bag, and another reports that the paper is poor and the binding is glued rather than stitched. If that’s true then these books are not for me. I’d rather have a plain Modern Library hardcover that is beautifully printed on recycled, acid-free cream paper with a proper stitched binding. That is a book that will last, a book that is a pleasure to read, a book that is worthy of its contents.

Pride and Twitterverse: I am excessively diverted!

I just read something that I think will be remembered for a long time in cyberspace, especially in it’s bookish galaxies. “Pride and Twitterverse” is a brilliant Twitter version of Pride and Prejudice by a Canadian librarian blogging at Under the Mad Hat. Here is a taste:

MrCollins:
@MrsB @JaneB @LizzyB @MaryBsaphorisms @KittyB @LydiaB I have it on authority from Lady Oprah de Bourgh that marriage would behoove a man of m... (read more via Twitlonger)

MrsB:
@LizzyB @MaryBsaphorisms @KittyB @LydiaB One of u MUST marry yr cousin, MrCollins. The PC, both laptops & the wireless are entailed to him.

LizzyB, MaryBsaphorisms, KittyB, LydiaB:
@MrsB Ew. We’d rather live off-grid.

MrCollins:
@LizzyB Since accepting my friend request on Facebook, Lady Oprah de Bourgh has condescended to write on my wall as often as once a year in ... (read more via Twitlonger)

MrCollins:
@LizzyB My reasons for marrying are, 1st, that I think it a proper, nay logical, step in developing my ministwee, 2 that it would please my ... (read more via Twitlonger)

MrCollins:
@LizzyB Which brings me to my choice of you as the particular object of my heart’s desire. Your lowly station, situated as you are with 5 si ... (read more via Twitlonger)

LizzyB:
@MrCollins You flatter me greatly with this proposal, but allow me to say AS IF!

MrsB:
@LizzyB @MrCollins LIZZY! NO!!!!! However will I blog when your father is dead and in his grave?

The whole thing is absolutely hilarious, especially if you are familiar with both P&P and Twitter. Don’t miss it!

Middlemarch: Opposition and the Vasts of Ignorance

That opposition to the New Fever Hospital which Lydgate had sketched to Dorothea was, like other oppositions, to be viewed in many different lights. He regarded it as a mixture of jealousy and dunderheaded prejudice. Mr. Bulstrode saw in it not only medical jealousy but a determination to thwart himself, prompted mainly by a hatred of that vital religion of which he had striven to be an effectual lay representative—a hatred which certainly found pretexts apart from religion such as were only too easy to find in the entanglements of human action. These might be called the ministerial views. But oppositions have the illimitable range of objections at command, which need never stop short at the boundary of knowledge, but can draw forever on the vasts of ignorance.

—George Eliot, Middlemarch

It seems progress always brings out the wingnuts and conspiracy theorists. Today it’s “death panels.” In Lydgate’s case, it was rumoured that the purpose of his hospital was to collect cadavers to indulge his taste for dissection. Who says the classics aren’t relevant any more?

An Help Meet for the OED

And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Gen 2:18 KJV)

Just as it was not good for Adam to be alone in the world, so it was not good for the OED to be the solitary representative of the English language on Earth. After nearly 45 years of taking the ribs out of the OED and sorting them by kind, a group of dedicated philologists have created the perfect mate for the OED, the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary (available at Amazon). Naturally it is the largest thesaurus ever produced, and the only historical thesaurus in any language. It contains all of the OED entries up to the second edition additions (they had to stop somewhere!) and is arranged semantically by a structure created specifically for this project.

I’m sure half the pleasure of the HTOED is browsing through the categories of words, but if you are looking for something in particular, there is an alphabetical index volume to go with the thesaurus. Together they form a two-volume boxed set that is about the same size as the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. I think they would look quite handsome on the shelf together. I think it is a good sign, in these days of e-books and online references, that Oxford has published this monumental thesaurus in book form. I will most definitely be saving up my pennies to get my own copy!

Find out more about the HTOED and see a sample page here.